Lucy Kavaler

The Private World Of High Society Lucy Kavaler

SOCIETY is having a revival. In cities, small towns, and suburbs all over the country Americans are returning to a class system that seemed doomed a generation ago. They are following all the traditions developed by the Old Guard of an earlier era.

But there is a difference. The top rung of the social ladder is now the goal of the many rather than the few. Social position can be earned, whereas, formerly, it could be achieved only by birth.

That is why the old-line families are claiming that "Society is dead." And they may be right when they think of society as their grandmothers knew it. But a new society is springing up that bears the closest resemblance to the old.

It is bigger; many newcomers have reached the heights. But they have not killed society, even in its original sense. The prestige of the old inner circle has never been higher. Acceptance by this Old Guard is the criterion by which newcomers gauge their success.

Almost all the recent arrivals in the world of high society are rich. But they are not satisfied with wealth in itself. In the prosperity that followed World War II many Americans began to earn large incomes. The result is that the possession of money no longer guarantees prestige. And so a position in society has become a status goal.